


aspiring fires

by digitalWaterfall



Series: keep the car running [1]
Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Daemons, Alternate Universe - His Dark Materials Fusion, Angst, Gen, Pining, i blacked out and wrote this entire thing in like...three hours
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-27
Updated: 2020-04-27
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:54:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23870089
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/digitalWaterfall/pseuds/digitalWaterfall
Summary: Kamaria announces, “I’ve figured it out. You’ve got a crush on them.”Martin looks over at her. She’s sitting on the edge of the filing cabinet, carefully peeling off old labels. “Excuse me?” he says.“Jon and Adoniel. I figured it out. You fancy them.”-----Martin doesn't have a crush. He doesn't. Try telling that to his stubborn little daemon, though.
Series: keep the car running [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1730341
Comments: 1
Kudos: 82





	aspiring fires

**Author's Note:**

> Jon's daemon is an Iberian Lynx. Martin's daemon is a Northern Flying Squirrel.
> 
> This takes place in late season 1.

It’s a Tuesday afternoon, and Martin is trying very hard not to be bored out of his mind as he relabels files in the Archives. Whoever labeled them previously had used cheap paper labels, and most of them have nearly or completely fallen off their folders. It’s his least favorite kind of work: just repetitive enough to be tedious, but not mindless enough to allow him to listen to music or a podcast. He’s doing his best to zone out and make a grocery list in his head when Kamaria announces, “I’ve figured it out. You’ve got a crush on them.”

Martin looks over at her. She’s sitting on the edge of the filing cabinet, carefully peeling off old labels. “Excuse me?” he says.

“Jon and Adoniel. I figured it out. You fancy them.”

Martin makes a face. “Don’t be ridiculous. They’re our boss, I don’t _fancy_ them.”

“Oh, really? What are you thinking about right now?”

“Right now I’m thinking that my daemon is being a real pain and I need to finish filing these if I ever want to do anything else at this job, ever.”

Kamaria flicks an old label at him. “Okay, what were you thinking about _before_ I started talking?”

 _"Nothing,”_ Martin insists loudly, then flinches, looking around. Small mercies: thankfully he’s still the only one down here; no one else is stupid enough to still be working at seven PM on a Friday.

Well, nobody except for Jon. If the past few Friday evenings have been anything to go by, Jon is almost certainly still at his desk, hunched over in a position that makes Martin’s back twinge every time he looks at Jon. Martin had seen him earlier that afternoon, the bags under his eyes even more pronounced than the day before-- apparently Jon has been getting about as much sleep as Martin has lately.

Maybe Martin should go check on him, get him to go home early for once--

“Ha! I knew it. You’re thinking about him again.”

“Shush!” Martin hisses. “All right, so what if I am? Anyone would be-- he’s been working himself half to death lately!”

“Oh, please, you’ve been obsessing over him constantly--”

“I’m not _obsessing_ \--”

“--Tim and Sasha work with him too, and you don’t see them grinding their teeth about him every half-hour.”

Martin shoves the filing cabinet drawer closed with a little more force than is strictly necessary. “So? Jon’s basically told us he thinks one of them killed Gertrude, it’s no wonder they’re a bit bitter--”

“Martin, he said that about _you_ , too!” Kamaria sits on her hind legs and gives him a look. “There is no rational explanation for why you still like Jonathan Simms. The only explanation is that you _like_ like him.”

“ _Like_ like him? What are you, twelve?” Martin says, rather more coldly than he had intended. “The man clearly has no friends. Just because I want to make his life a little easier-- just because maybe I have a little more patience than Tim and Sasha-- doesn’t mean I fancy him!” He opens the next filing cabinet drawer, trying not to crumple the folder in his hand. He hates confrontation, but Kamaria seems to thrive on it. He’s never never quite figured out why-- aren't daemons and their humans supposed to be more or less the same, psychologically speaking?-- but she’s learned to take advantage of it, sometimes ruthlessly. 

“Why are you so dead set against this?” Kamaria shoots back. “I’m _you_ , Martin, I know when you’re hiding something--”

“I dunno, maybe because _he’s my boss?_ ” Martin hisses. “Because that’s wrong on multiple levels, and it’s probably illegal for that matter, and even if I _did_ have a crush it clearly isn’t going anywhere, he’s never seen me that way, so just drop it, would you?” He shoves the file into the drawer and pulls out the next one.

“' _Isn’t going anywhere'_ , huh?” Kamaria says dryly. “I see we’re no longer talking in hypotheticals.”

Oh, damn. Martin glares at her. Kamaria scratches an ear, heedless of his glower.

He sighs. “All right. Maybe you’re right. But my point stands. Nothing will ever come of it, and it’s pointless to even try. So please. Just-- drop it.”

Kamaria flattens her ears, the flying squirrel equivalent of a frown. “Fine. You admitted it, so I’ll drop it. But I really don’t think it’s as hopeless as you think. I’ve seen Adoniel look at me on occasion, when Jon’s busy. _She’s_ noticing something, even if _he_ isn’t.”

That image of Adoniel looking at his daemon is almost too painful to acknowledge. Martin shuts it out, refuses to entertain even the smallest glimmer of an idea that Jon-- no. “Fine. Great. She looked at me-- she looks at everyone! It doesn’t mean anything. Now can we get back to work?”

Kamaria flicks an ear. “Fine. But this isn’t over.”

Martin sighs and resumes his attempts at relabeling. They’re about halfway through the current drawer when someone knocks at the open door. Martin jumps, nearly dropping his file folder. 

“Sorry,” says Jon. Adoniel sits at his feet. “Just came down to say-- it’s getting late. Might want to head out. Don’t you have things to do?”

Martin feels his face get hot. “Er. Not really. The pub’s not really my thing, and I wanted to get this cabinet done tonight…”

“Hm.” Jon looks around. “Well, you should head home anyway. It’s not good to work too late.”

Martin stares at him. “Sorry, what? You’re one to talk! I don’t think I’ve ever seen you leave before seven.”

“I’m the _Head Archivist_ ,” Jon says, a little primly. “I’m supposed to be putting extra work in. You, on the other hand, are no use to me if you overdo it. Go home.”

“I’m only going home if you’re going home,” Martin says, and immediately cannot believe what just came out of his mouth. Kamaria looks delighted.

Jon looks him up and down. Martin tries to arrange his features to say _yes, I mean it, I’m not leaving unless you are, and also I am totally not freaking out about standing up to my boss that I have a secret crush on_. He’s pretty sure it isn’t that effective, given the flush that’s now creeping up to his ears-- but apparently it does the trick, because Jon says, “Fine. I’ll go home if it’ll make you leave.”

Martin blinks. “I-- okay. Fine.” 

Jon rolls his eyes, and turns to leave. As he does, Adoniel looks up, meeting Martin’s eyes. For a few moments, Martin has the disconcerting sensation of a butterfly pinned to a board; then she twitches her whiskers and follows Jon out the door. 

“See?” Kamaria says. She hops over to him and bumps his hand with her furry head. “Told you.”

It doesn’t mean anything, Martin tells himself on the way home. But he can’t help the tiny warmth he feels inside.

**Author's Note:**

> come yell with/at me about TMA over at my tumblr, [digital-waterfall!](http://digital-waterfall.tumblr.com/)
> 
> i'm really hoping to post more of this fusion at some point. let me know if you like it!


End file.
